Both have the same director, and a similar atmosphere. Both are equally excellent, but each with it's own theme and story. If you watched one of them and enjoyed it, then you will love the other.
Both "Kino's Journey" and "Serial Experiments Lain" have a lot of similarities. For one they are both directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, a master in Japanese animation, who continues to prove his expertize with the recent "Ghost Hound" TV series for Production I.G. . Since both Lain and Kino are directed by Nakamura they focus a lot on "atmposhere" and scenery, and have a lot of (what film critic Roger Ebert would call) "pillow shots" . They never rush to the next scene they always relax, and animate small things, allowing you to think about what just happened. They also use his style of text popping up ever now and then, to blend with the narrative of the story. They both also have many other similiarities due to the way the director handles his anime. Both anime series are very philosphical and a psychological. They delve deep into these areas, and really become more then just throw away entertainment. They make (sometime blunt) statements about ourselves, this world, humanity different cultures, and many other concepts and ideas (the internet for example appears multiple times in Lain, and War comes up a lot in Kino's Journey). They both are also partly very focused character studies. Kino's Journey delves a little into Kino as a character, while Serial Experiments Lain focuses on Lain deeply. There are also lots of similurities between both characters. Both series are 13 episodes long, very artsy and expermental, very sureal, and sometimes mess with your head a little (more in Lain). Both series are also very slow paced shows. They both are dark series, that focus more on the darker side of humanity, although "Kino" does study the lighter side of humanity at times. They both also have great opening themes, good ending themes, and very limited, yet useful use of background music and insert songs. I also find the animation in both of them to be underrated. Kinos goes for the simple yet beautiful look, while Lain goes for a more "dark and edgy" look which work for each show. I find Lain to have really good character designs and artwork, esecially given it's age. This is apprently overlooked by many reviewers which is sad. They notice the outdated CGI, but ignore the other very nice aspects of Lain's animation. There are some differences however between the two that are important. Since "Kino's Journey" was made 5 years after "Serial Experiments Lain", I find in "Kino" Nakamura to be much more focused and clear to where he is going then in "Lain". "Lain" is rought around the edges a little, but "Kino" is very polished. Also "Kino's Journey" is simple (and easy to follow) and very easy to understand, yet brilliant, while "Serial Experiments Lain" is very difficult to understand, hard to follow, very complex, and hard to digest. Still I'd suggest "Kino's Journey" to any "Serial Experiments Lain" fan, and vice versa. They both are really good anime series that all anime fans should watch at least once.
Both series have similar slow-paced narration, lot of calm and static scenes. While Lain is more philosophical and focus on individuality, Kino no Tabi has interests in society and how civilization works. What important - same director is responsible for both series and you will clearly notice many similarities.
